If You're Reading This I'm Too Fat

Training Training Logs
101

November 26, 2022

Weight: 209.6 lbs

Weights: Upper Body
Incline DB Bench Press – 55x6, 75x6, 95x8, 0, 0 [yikes…]
Seated DB Shoulder Press – 55x6, 75x10, 7 [rep PR]
EZ Bar Incline Triceps Extensions – 60x8, 80x13, 11 [rep PR]
Lat Pulldowns – 115x6, 145x6, 170x8 [rep PR], 5, 130x13,10
HS Seated Rows – 180x8, 210x6, 240x8,6
DB Hammer Curls – 45x10, 55x6,6
Cable Standing Reverse Flyes – 15x10, 20x10,6
Cable Lateral Raises – 15x8, 20x8,6
Machine Triceps Extensions – 80x10, 100x10,6
Machine Preacher Curls – 100x6, 135x6, 170x6

Total Daily Steps: 17,412

Nutrition
Calories: 2004
Protein: 160
Carbs: 178.5
Fat: 87.5

Hit and miss upper body day today, but more hit than miss. Not sure what happened on the second workset of Incline DB Bench Press. But that was embarrassing, lol! Rest of the workout went great. I won’t bother doing those machine triceps extensions anymore, those suck.

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102

Update: I got sick a couple of weeks back and was out for around a week. In the last week I’ve been easing back into things, hit the gym around 3x. I’m getting this log back on track now, but for the sake of my sanity won’t try to upload all the stats/metrics for the last 2 weeks. Especially since I wasn’t tracking my food intake that week when I was sick.

I took my measurements (weight, waist, took pics) yesterday so I should be good to track progress again, the normal way I’ve been doing every Monday tracking the weekly change, from this week on. Stats as of yesterday (Monday December 12) are below:

Weight: 205.8lbs (-2.4lbs since before getting sick)

Waist: 37.25” (-0.25” from before getting sick – last week I was actually up to 38”)

Pics: I look about the same as a couple weeks back – no complaints here, could have been worse.

A few other things:

  • My strength is down a decent clip, but it varies by exercise. My worse exercises were hit more. But it’s nothing that won’t come back in the next week, I think. Given this, I won’t be too surprised if I actually gain a couple pounds this week (we’ll see). As long as it’s nothing too crazy.
  • My workout schedule is a bit off this week, owing to coming back from sickness + my work deadlines did not change despite me missing a few days – this week has been brutal and it’ll be this bad until next week. I can still get my 2 upper and 2 lower body days in though.
  • Before getting sick, I had mentioned how my back was acting up after poor form on some rows I did. My back was not getting better at all the entire time I was sick despite me getting a tone of time to lie down and rest. I feel now that my approach of resting it and avoiding stuff until it got better may have actually made things worse. As recently as three days ago, it was still painful as all hell getting out of bed in the morning or standing up from seated positions. In the last three days, I’ve tried something else and focused on being more active, avoiding sitting, and gradually reintroducing myself to flexing my back at times, and relaxing about. Much of this is inspired by the video below (and the article referred to in the video), along with me noticing the back problems suddenly showed up as I started slacking on the steps (which sucks since I won’t be going on walks outside in the winter). It’s early, but so far, results have been good. I have way less back pain during the day, and my lower body day yesterday was almost completely back pain/tightness free. Gonna keep with this approach, and hopefully in a couple weeks I can say it worked way better.

Anyway, yesterday I did lower body:

December 11, 2022

Weight: 205.8 lbs

Weights: Lower Body
Squats – 45x5, 95x3, 135x5, 165x5, 195x4,1 [uhhh, what happened here? Big fail]
Romanian Deadlifts – 45x10, 75x8, 105x8, 135x6, 165x6,6
Seated Leg Curls – 130x6, 170x6, 210x6,5 [form could’ve been better on the second work set]]
Leg Press – 360x6, 450x6, 540x6, 590x6
Leg Extensions – 180x6, 230x6, 280x6,5

Total Daily Steps: 11,821 [focusing on standing more has made it easy to “accidentally” get steps in, I have trouble standing still and pace around a lot while working]

In the spirit of not letting my lower back fears dictate my exercises, I did RDL’s for the first time in probably 5 years (back when I first hurt my back). The weight light, and even on the work sets my muscles were not tired. I felt a slight tightness for a moment on the work sets, but as I reassured myself that it was fine, the tightness was gone.

As for the squats, no clue what happened there aside from my form being not good. I didn’t follow any of the cues I normally follow. It’s also been 2 weeks since I last squatted, but, my other lower body lifts weren’t really down much, so not sure I can blame the layoff and any loss of strength there. I was supposed to do Week 1 of 5/3/1 yesterday but obviously flopped on the second set… I will probably redo this on Sunday’s lower body day.

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103

Dumping last week’s (Dec 12- 18) training, nutrition and weight data here along with the weekly summary. In short, not too great of a week and no excuses I just messed up a bit.

Work was pretty rough and I missed/delayed a couple of workouts. (This week has been much better…trying to make it a make up week for last week). But the time was still there for those workouts, I just didn’t manage stress/work timing very well.

I was expecting to gain weight during the week as it was the first full week back since getting sick but I didn’t. I don’t think this was my diet being so great, more like I didn’t lift enough so I didn’t put back on all lost muscle. I may gain a bit next (i.e. this) week as a result, but I will watch the weight + waist measurement in tandem to see if it was good weight gain.

Standing while working has made getting steps indoors very easy and I can get like 8-9k steps without any intentional steps. Pretty easy to hit 10k.That said, it’s winter here and I’m not doing outdoor walks anymore.

December 12, 2022

Weight: 205.8lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 11,821

Nutrition
Calories: 2264
Protein: 148
Carbs: 180.5
Fat: 105.5

December 13, 2022

Weight: 205.6 lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 9,551

Nutrition
Calories: 2151
Protein: 141
Carbs: 179.5
Fat: 96.5

December 14, 2022

Weight: 206.2lbs

Weights: Upper Body
HS Rows - 180x6, 210x6, 240x8,5
Lat Pulldowns - 115x6, 145x6, 175x5,5, 130x13,8
DB Hammer Curls - 45x8, 55x8,6
Incline DB Bench Press - 50x6, 70x6, 90x10
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x10
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 60x12, 80x13,9
Cable Standing Reverse Flyes - 15x10, 20x13,9
Cable Leaning Lateral Raises - 15x6, 20x6

Total Daily Steps: 10,876

Nutrition
Calories: 2020
Protein: 166.8
Carbs: 104.4
Fat: 103.9

December 15, 2022

Weight: 206.2 lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 11,642

Nutrition
Calories: 2032
Protein: 144.5
Carbs: 188
Fat: 78

December 16, 2022

Weight: 205.6lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 7,110

Nutrition
Calories: 2223
Protein: 136
Carbs: 202.5
Fat: 96.5

December 17, 2022

Weight: 205.0 lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 9,602

Nutrition
Calories: 2408
Protein: 138
Carbs: 226.5
Fat: 105.5

December 18, 2022

Weight: 204.8 lbs

Weights: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 15,204 [did some cleaning today]

Nutrition
Calories: 2223
Protein: 136
Carbs: 202.5
Fat: 96.5

Week 24 Summary (Dec 12 - Dec 18)

Weight: 205.6 lbs (-0.2 lbs from last week…basically no change)

Waist: 37.25" (no change from last week)

Average Daily Steps: 10,830

Nutrition:
Overall Average – 2188 calories, 144g protein, 183g carbs, 197g fat
Training Day Average – 2020 calories, 167g protein, 104g carbs, 104g fat
Off Day Average – 2216 calories, 141g protein, 197g carbs, 96g fat

Sleep: Solid all week, no issues here.

Mirror/Pics: Looked the same as I did pre-sickness. Although I trimmed my chest/stomach hair which made it harder to compare pics lol.

Stress (inc. Work) and Mood: Work was brutal because I got sick a couple weeks prior and I was still catching up + tons of vacation from teammates around this time of the year. Worst week fo the year, but oh well it’s over now.

Appetite: No real moments of strong hunger during the week. Not shocking as my weight stayed the same.

Workout Quality and Activity: Well…I missed workouts this week so I guess bad? The workout I did was good.

Take home points/next steps:

  • Just get back on track (as I write this… this current week has been good so far- have hit the gym every day and activity and diet are good).

  • despite it being kind of easy to hit 10k steps a day indoors as I aim to stand more during the day, I am removing the goal for hitting 10k steps. It’s winter in Toronto and walking outside right now really sucks compared to the benefit I actually get from it. I got my exercise bike and will slowly add that into my overall daily activity. It’s harder than walking, so this should be a net improvement in non-lifting activity once fully phased in.

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104

December 19, 2022

Weight: 205.6 lbs

Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x5, 95x3, 135x3, 165x5, 190x5, 210x3, 155x16
Romanian Deadlifts - 45x8, 95x6, 135x6, 175x8,8
Seated Leg Curls - 135x6, 185x6, 215x5
Smith Machine Squats - 45x5, 95x5, 135x3,3
Leg Press - 260x6, 450x6, 540x5, 590x4 [not sure wha happened here]
Standing Calf Raise Machine - 240x20, 300x20,16 [slow reps]
Leg Extensions - 180x8, 230x6, 280x7,5

Total Daily Steps: 12,970

Nutrition
Calories: 2038
Protein: 134
Carbs: 178.5
Fat: 87.5

Gym was a mixed bag. Squats were definitely better than last time, but I fell short of 5 reps on my third work set, also miscalculated the weight and should have used 215lbs. The failed widow maker was ok, I’ve only tried 155 once before and got 18, I think I can get the 20 next time.

Smith squats felt both really good for the quads but awkward for me. I could not get comfortable with just leaning a bit on the machine as it takes care of the back support in a way. It felt unnatural. But it’s work another shot – if I get used to it, it will be a great quad exercise that I can hopefully load up on.

Not sure what happened on the leg press there, might have been because it was right after trying a new exercise or something.

December 20, 2022

Weight: 204.0 lbs

Weights: Upper Body
Lat Pulldowns - 115x6, 145x6, 175x7,6, 130x15,10
Incline DB Bench Press - 50x6, 70x6, 90x10,5
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x7
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 70x6, 80x14,10
HS Seated Rows - 180x6, 210x5, 240x8,6
Cable Standing Reverse Flyes - 15x6, 22.5x10,8
Cable Leaning Lateral Raises - 15x6, 20x8,6
Machine Preacher Curls - 100x8, 135x6, 170x9,6

Total Daily Steps: 14,781

Nutrition
Calories: 2262
Protein: 160
Carbs: 181.5
Fat: 99.5

Solid gym day. I feel like next official* upper body day (gonna do a fun unscheduled one today) I’ll be back to making some PRs.

December 21, 2022

Weight: 205.8 lbs

Weights: Bonus Lower Body Day
Squats - 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
Seated Leg Curls - 145x6, 180x6, 215x7,5, 160x15,10
Leg Press - 360x6, 450x6, 540x5, 590x9,5
45 Degree Back Extensions - Bodyweight x8, 20x6,6,6
Leg Extensions - 185x8, 235x6, 285x8,5

Total Daily Steps: 11,607

Nutrition
Calories: 2492
Protein: 170
Carbs: 169.5
Fat: 125.5

My next official lower body day is Friday but wanted to get more form work on squats + try a couple of new exercises, redeem myself on leg press, and just generally get some more volume and activity in. Only got to try one new exercises, but I achieved all other goals.

Similar to the Smith squats, I probably need a bit more practice on the back extensions. I had that sensation I was going to fall forward the whole time - need to get comfortable with the lift. Also I should focus on driving my hips forward so I feel it more in the glutes (I felt it well enough in my hen strings and lower back). Even if the machine doesn’t really let your hips drive forward it’ll be a useful cue I think.

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105

December 22, 2022

Weight: 205.0 lbs

Weights: Bonus Upper Body Day
HS Incline Press - 160x8, 190x8, 220x12,5 [rep PR]
Close Grip Lat Pulldowns - 100x8, 130x8, 160x8,5
DB Lateral Raises - 20x8, 30x6, 35x13,9
HS Shoulder Press - 120x8, 170x6, 220x6,5
Machine Preacher Curls - 100x8, 135x6, 170x8,4
Seated DB Overhead Extensions - 30x8, 35x6, 40x8,5

Total Daily Steps: 10,664

Nutrition
Calories: 2254
Protein: 134
Carbs: 205.5
Fat: 99.5

Nice fun bonus gym day, mainly arms and shoulders stuff. Getting more volume in because I can this week. Hopefully no effect on weight/reps I can do next upper body day.

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106

Haven’t updated this in a while, but to keep it short - I trained the week of December 18-24, and had a more or less average week. Then on the 24th, I caught Covid for the first time. It basically was like a cold, but sucks to have had 2 “colds” in one month like that. I was planning on taking it easy the last week of 2022, but that kind of settled it. I ate like I wanted to, but didn’t go too far either. I’m still testing positive right now, but my symptoms are almost completely gone, just a cough/runny nose left. Once I test negative a few times I will be back in the gym.

An Update on Progress Made in 2022
This log was started with the primary goal of hitting 200lbs with a flat stomach by year’s end. The total change from beginning to end is as follows:

Weight: 241.6 lbs to 203.8lbs (total loss of 37.8 lbs)
Waist: 45’’ to 37’’ (total loss of 8’')

I’ve been taking pics at least once a week, but prefer to not post them. But for now for anyone who was following (and thanks!) I will post a pic from July 4 and December 31 of 2022 to show the change as well. (I’ll probably delete this later). I’m not flexing in either pic if it isn’t obvious lol. I’ve got a flat stomach now, but still have some love handles/back fat I could lose.

(and yes, I have a case of gyno that I’ve had since puberty, but I can only improve that so much with fat loss – just ignore that part. The front facing pics don’t show, but the fat loss has helped it not look as bad, too.)

07-04-2022
07-04-2022720×689 45.9 KB

12-31-2022
12-31-2022669×547 30.3 KB

Next Steps
All of December I felt pretty tired of eating like I was, and in terms of how I feel, I definitely want to et a bit more and focus more on getting stronger, and being better conditioned. My lifts went up during the cut, but not that much. Would be nice to try to beat the logbook without being at a caloric deficit.

But at the same time, as I got really close to the 200 lbs goal I had, I could see from the pics (and now anyone reading this can see) that I could still be leaner. I’m not lean at this point, just not as fat. My modest goals at the start of the log were definitely hit aside from weighing exactly 200lbs, but I now think I could stand to lose another 15-25lbs. I think I’d look really good if I got down to like 185-190lbs at my height, assuming I maintained what muscle I have. Not look BB good, but general population good, which is all I want at this point. Modest goals, still. Last time I weighed 185-190 lbs was when I was 18 years old.

Soooo, I will continue cutting for at least another month, maybe 2 months. I’ll try to lose as much as I can, and hopefully I’m in that 185-190lbs range. Yes, this would require me losing weight as fast as I did in September and October, not like December, but I think I can pull that off again. In terms of the approach, I will keep a straight caloric deficit like I have been, and either increase that deficit or add in moderate intensity cardio - i.e finally use that exercise bike I wasted so much money on. I will still lift hard, but I’m totally prepared to lose some strength in the next month or two if it means I lose weight - within reason of course. I can regain any lost strength during the rest of the year.

Edit from Jan 4th: per below, using the second pic in this post as my before pic for #t-ransformation2023

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(Un)Official 2023 T-ransformation Challenge
107

That’s great progress, my man—keep up the good work!

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108

Thanks @SvenG!

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Thanks @throwawayfitness! (Although I’m kind of shy and might just keep my pics here for now)

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111

That’s the thing, tag train for pain in the post here and you’re done no requirement to go post it there

you can win this, you’ll be lean here soon.

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I’ll give it some thought (I guess I have 'till the 6th) but I don’t plan on dieting through May 1 like required (more like through March 1 for me), so it might not work for me. But thanks!

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113

Take your after pics whenever! Some folks are even looking to gain weight. It’s just an opportunity for us to be in it together, so to speak

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Added myself to the challenge. Thanks!

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115

Adding stats from this Monday so I can track weekly progress again:

Monday, Jan 2, 2023 (start of Week 27)
Weight: 205.0 lbs
Waist: 37’’

January 2, 2023

Weight: 205.0 lbs

Weights: OFF

Cardio: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 13,081

Nutrition
Calories: 1552
Protein: 146
Carbs: 94.5
Fat: 65.5

January 3, 2023

Weight: 203.7 lbs

Weights: OFF

Cardio: Bike
Time - 30:19
Distance - 15.77 km
Resistance Level - 21/100

Total Daily Steps: 7,433

Nutrition
Calories: 2037
Protein: 162
Carbs: 147
Fat: 89

Finally did a real workout with the exercise bike. The bike tracks a few stats for me, but I think for the purpose of tracking progress, I’ll show distance, time (which together will give average speed), and the resistance level. Those 3 factors will be the levers I pull to progress from week to week. This week, I am aiming to do at least 4 bike sessions, for a half hour, and average 30km/hour (so, 15km as the distance), all at a resistance of 20/100 on this bike. Every week I’ll increase either the time, speed, or resistance.

I’ve been covid negative for a couple days now, to got to hit the gym today. I will update the log with that tomorrow.

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116

January 4, 2023

Weight: 202.4 lbs

Weights: Upper Body
Incline DB Bench Press - 50x8, 70x6, 85x8,7
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x8,4
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 60x10, 80x10,8
Cable Lat Pulldowns - 100x6, 140x5, 170x7,6, 125x11
HS Seated Rows - 140x8, 190x5, 240x5,4
Standing Cable Reverse Flyes - 15x10, 22.5x10,8
Cable Leaning Lateral Raises - 10x10, 20x6,6
Cable Straight Bar Curls - 40x10, 55x8, 70x8,7

Cardio: Bike
Time - 30:10
Distance - 15.74 km
Resistance Level - 21/100

Total Daily Steps: 11,651

Nutrition
Calories: 2128
Protein: 192
Carbs: 122.5
Fat: 97.5

Strength down a bit, but I think this is more from the inconsistent training in the last 3-4 weeks, not the caloric deficit and cardio from this week. But either way, I’m ok with a slight drop in strength as long as it comes with meaningful fat loss.

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117

January 5, 2023

Weight: 202.6 lbs

Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x5, 95x5, 135x3, 185x5,5,3
Romanian Deadlifts - 45x8, 95x6, 135x5, 175x6,6
Seated Leg Curls - 145x6, 180x6, 215x6,4, 160x13
Leg Extensions - 185x6, 235x6, 285x5

Cardio: Bike
Time - 41:20
Distance - 21.18 km
Resistance Level - 21/100

Total Daily Steps: 10,731

Nutrition
Calories: 2059
Protein: 144
Carbs: 153.6
Fat: 96.5

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118

January 6, 2023

Weight: 202.4 lbs

Weights: OFF

Cardio: OFF

Total Daily Steps: 6,951

Nutrition
Calories: 2129
Protein: 142
Carbs: 150.5
Fat: 106.5

January 7, 2023

Weight: 202.8 lbs

Weights: Upper Body
Cable Lat Pulldowns - 100x6, 140x6, 170x8,5, 125x13
HS Seated Rows - 140x6, 190x6, 240x7,5
Cable Straight Bar Curls - 40x8, 55x8, 70x8,6, 50x10
Incline DB Bench Press - 50x8, 70x6, 85x12,7
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x8
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 50x12, 80x14,10
Standing Cable Reverse Flyes - 10x10, 20x10,10
Cable Leaning Lateral Raises - 10x10, 20x6,6

EDIT: Forgot to update the weight/reps when I first posted this

Cardio: Bike
Time - 30:14
Distance - 15.84 km
Resistance Level - 21/100

Total Daily Steps: 11,945

Nutrition
Calories: 1893
Protein: 109
Carbs: 157.3
Fat: 91.9

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119

Been a while since I updated this log. Long story short, I was doing fin until around Jan 12, and then…I slipped up. On Jan 12 I was 201.6 lbs and had a 36.5’ waist that Monday, so down about 3.4lbs and 0.5" in the first 12 days of the year. This Monday I weighed 206.8lbs with a 37.5’’ waist, so up 1.8lbs and 0.5’’ on the year. My appetite came back in a big way. I missed 2 workouts from Jan 13-22, and my diet was way off. I also did no cardio. Step count was actually ok.

Week 4 2023 Starting Stats
Weight: 206.8lbs (+1.8lbs on the year)
Waist: 37.5’ (+0.5")

[changed the naming convention on the weeks, it starts at week 1 2023 now]

From here on out, I’ll be updating the log everyday. Other than Thursdays, I’ll be doing at least one workout a day (cardio or weights). I will keep my average daily calories at around 2300-2400. That’s actually higher than it was the last few months when I was on track, but with added cardio sessions it should be ok, and more sustainable than the 1900-2200 (usually closer to 2200) I was eating before.

This week has been good so far, feels good to be back on track. I will upload the summaries for Monday and Tuesday below.

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January 23, 2023

Weight: 206.8 lbs

Weights: Bonus Squat Form and Core Day
Squats – 95x3, 135x3, 165x3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
Seated Leg Curls – 130x6, 160x6, 190x11,8
Vertical Knee Raises – 10,10,10,10,10 [like a hanging knee raise but on this bosu ball support thing where I don’t have to actually hang]
Machine Crunch Thing – 30x8, 20x8,8,8 [no point getting the exact name, this exercise sucks and I won’t do it again lol]

Total Daily Steps: 14,417

Cardio: Bike
Time – 30:07
Distance – 16.05 km
Resistance Level – 22/100

Nutrition
Calories: 2138
Protein: 171.8
Carbs: 152.9
Fat: 93.2

I don’t have lifting days on Monday or Friday but as much as my schedule allows, I want to use those days to practice squat form and do some core work. I never train abs so my weights will be pretty embarrassing to start. Yes, those were knee raises, not leg raises. At the very worst, these form and core days will be another way for me to burn some more calories.

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